In many cases, the end of the year gives you time to step back and take stock of the last 12 months. This is when many of us take a hard look at what worked and what did not, complete performance reviews, and formulate plans for the coming year. For me, it is all of those things plus a time when I u...

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Nov. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Reform-minded educators eager to learn about Finland's highly successful school system often are shocked to find that elementary-level students have a four-hour day, do little homework, rarely take tests and don't even start school until age seven.

So why do hundreds of educators from around the globe come to Finland each year looking for information on how to make their own schools better?

Pasi Sahlberg, who directs the country's Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation, has earned the 2013 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education for answering that question in his 2011 book, "Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?"

A decision by elected officials, social experts and policy makers in the 1970s to team up on education reform was a critical factor in Finland's rise to academic superstar, said Sahlberg, whose agency is part of the country's Ministry of Education and Culture.

Ensuring the same opportunities for all students and showing a high regard for the teaching profession also transformed Finland's school system from mediocre into one of the world's finest, he said.

Diane Kyle, a UofL education professor who is faculty director for the award, said there's a lot to learn from Sahlberg's work and experience.

"Finland's approach to education reform contradicts just about everything the world is doing right now to improve student performance," Kyle said. "It shows we must address student inequality before we can expect student excellence."

Sahlberg, himself a former teacher, has provided strategic guidance for education in more than 40 nations and has spoken about education reform to politicians, educators, business leaders and parents worldwide.

In his current job, he promotes internationalization, creativity and global learning through education, culture, youth and sport. He is also adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki and University of Oulu and has previously worked for the Finnish Board of Education, World Bank and European Commission.

UofL presents four Grawemeyer Awards each year for outstanding works in music composition, world order, psychology and education. The university and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary jointly give a fifth award in religion. This year's awards are $100,000 each.

SYS-CON Events announced today that MangoApps will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY., and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Sant...

SYS-CON Events announced today that Solgenia will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa ...

The world's leading Cloud event, Cloud Expo has launched Microservices Journal on the SYS-CON.com portal, featuring over 19,000 original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries.
DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing.
...

Hosted PaaS providers have given independent developers and startups huge advantages in efficiency and reduced time-to-market over their more process-bound counterparts in enterprises. Software frameworks are now available that allow enterprise IT departments to provide these same adva...

SYS-CON Events announced today the IoT Bootcamp – Jumpstart Your IoT Strategy, being held June 9–10, 2015, in conjunction with 16th Cloud Expo and Internet of @ThingsExpo at the Javits Center in New York City. This is your chance to jumpstart your IoT strategy.
Combined with real-worl...

Even though it’s now Microservices Journal, long-time fans of SOA World Magazine can take comfort in the fact that the URL – soa.sys-con.com – remains unchanged. And that’s no mistake, as microservices are really nothing more than a new and improved take on the Service-Oriented Archite...